Gainako has been reliably informed and can confirm that UDP’s strong and outspoken youth leader Dodou Kasa Jatta of Bakau has fled the Gambia to neighboring Senegal in fear for his life. The outspoken youth leader who allegedly is the most arrested and detained opposition politician in Gambia in recent years reportedly has received numerous threats for him to desist from criticizing President Jammeh or face the consequences. His family reported that plain clothes men have been visiting his home at very odd hours asking for his whereabouts. He reportedly disappeared last week and his whereabouts was unknown as reported by Foroyaa newspaper. Upon receipt of the rumors of his disappearance Gainako launched its investigations on his where about and with the help of its reliable sources we were finally able to reach Mr. Jatta from an unknown location.
Gambia’s most arrested politician in the hands of the Military turned Civilian Government Dodou Kasa Jatta told Gainako in an interview Friday August 9, that the main reason he decided to flee is to safe his life from the hands of evil doers. Kasa as he is fondly call by peers in the political arena, said shortly before deciding to flee, he noticed suspicious activities around him with some men allegedly planning to abduct him and possibly kill him as an arch critic of President Jammeh and the APRC regime.
Speaking to Gainako from an undisclosed location in neighboring Senegal, Jatta maintained that he is a promoter of democracy and would continue to push for a regime change through democratic means saying that his desires is to stay in the Gambia and continue with the struggle he started with his party and others. But unfortunately, “I have to leave because unidentified men have been stalking me at our home every time I was out putting my family in constant fear for my safety”.
“ I suspected that they wanted to forcefully abduct me, possibly kill me like they did to other Gambians who have gone missing sine July 22, 1994” and nobody knows their whereabouts.
Kasa contested the last Parliamentary Elections under an independent ticket but lost to the APRC candidate. He said democracy is the only way forward to development; peace, stability, unity and oneness adding that this is lacking in the Gambia but he is optimistic that it is a matter of time.
“As at now, I will not disclosed my location for safety purposes but once I put my house in order, I shall join thousands of other Gambians in the fight to restore democracy in the Gambia which would eventually happen as the Gambia is greater that Jammeh and his few cohorts,”
So if they think that suppressing their opponents and rivals is the way forward, they have lost the battle because sanity and democracy would soon be the order of the day in the Gambia our beloved nation, Mr., Jatta added.
Unfortunately, Mr. Jatta’s case is similar to hundreds if not thousands of Gambians who fled the country in fear for their lives and safety. While Mr. Jatta appears to be no security threat to the Jammeh regime, but simply uses his opposition credentials and Democratic rights to criticize a ruling government which is expected of the opposition, President Jammeh’s militants are bend on getting rid of any opponents who dare to stand up publicly against his draconian and heavy handed polices. Until President Jammeh recognized that democracy is about opposing views and dissent the country will continue to slide into an ungovernable status.